The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
Several dozen people set out Monday night to dream what kind of library could be built with a big chunk of land and $53 million.
Tidewater Community College and the city of Virginia Beach are teaming up to erect the library, expected to be 120,000 square feet, or one-third larger than the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library.
For those gathered at TCC, it wasn't so much about the building's size but what would be in it - or even outside.
Someone in attendance said that often university libraries are next to grassy areas, where students sun themselves, read books or gather in groups - and she'd like to see that at the new TCC/Virginia Beach library.
Gordon Carrier, one of the architects working on the project, said his San Diego firm designed a library at the University of California at San Diego that is underground, yet natural light from a dome above ground funnels light into it.
"Daylight is my favorite subject," Carrier said. "Daylight is the essence of great space."
Some in attendance asked whether there would be a playground or outdoor space near the library so families could come and make a morning of it. They wanted to know whether there would be more computers per person, exhibit space for art, an auditorium for lecturers and plenty of parking.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
The library is in the planning stages, scheduled to open in the fall of 2011, so many details still are being debated.
TCC President Deborah DiCroce said combining a public library with a university one was challenging, having to merge academic culture with residential culture. But that's what they aim to do.
"It seems silly that we would go our separate ways on this," DiCroce said the city and TCC concluded several years ago. "We are not looking to create a yours, mine and ours."
Lon Wagner, (757) 222-5119. lon.wagner@pilotonline.com
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Libraury Art
I once taught a class with about 50 people present. I asked for everyone that liked the art work in front of the Libruary to raise their hands. Not one hand went up. I suppose all of them were Art Haters with closed minds. This should make you very very sad.
53 Million Dollars???
Where is that 53 million coming from? City share vs. state share? Somebody forgot to mention we have a 100 million dollar hole in the city budget and many billions short in Virginia's...
How about the rest of the story?
1/3 LARGER than the Central Library
It's going to be 1/3 larger or 133% of the current Central Library's size. Doesn't necessarily make it a bargain, but it does change the perspective a bit don't you think?
hhhmmm
Let's see.....just 53 million for a library that is one third the size of the main library.....WOW what a deal, chump change, heck build two.
Libraries deprive authors
Libraries deprive authors and artists revenue from their work. Why is it we outlaw downloading and sharing of music and video from the internet, but it's okay for libraries to let multiple people use one book or check out DVDs for free? Might as well scan / encode all of the content from the library and do away with the physical building. Share the contents with the entire world, not just the neighborhood.
Public Art
I wonder if the Roman Caesars had to deal with citizens complaining about statues and other public art in their time. In some ways I feel better thinking that they probably did and having to deal with close-minded art haters is a universal experience, but it really just makes me very, very sad.
If you really don't like that statue, why not create the piece of art you'd rather see in its place and donate it?
Library
I wonder if the city will put asise 1% of the total cost to put another statue in front of the Library that no one can figure out what it is by some so called artist as they did on the main Library on Virginia Beach Blvd? We have plenty of tax payer money, so why not!